


Persona: Full Moon Thieves

by Silvex



Category: Persona 3, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Bad Decisions, Communication Failure, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Multi, Mythology References, Psychological Trauma, Slice of Life, Social Links, Tarot, Team as Family, The Velvet Room (Persona Series)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 14:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16975923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvex/pseuds/Silvex
Summary: Just bump the timeline ahead a decade or so, maybe change the location a little. What could possibly go wrong?Apparently, quite a bit. Wherein the P3 cast play a custom version of P5's game, Gekkoukan High is the location for far too many Palaces, and the male protagonist has fled the country, though the last one was entirely self-inflicted.All things considered, he probably had the right idea.





	1. Prologue: Moonrise

This story starts, in a way, with the advent of the smartphone. Or perhaps it didn’t, and mobile gaming devices were the cue. When both could be used for the same purpose, it really didn’t matter.

It starts, a bit more properly, with a girl finding that everything she owned that could carry apps had one that she’d never seen before. This girl, Kirijo Mitsuru, was a cautious child, so she of course deleted it.

It came back, the very next day, on everything she’d deleted it from. Nobody else seemed to notice that the app was a thing, so she ignored it, and closed it whenever it turned itself on.

Now, Mitsuru could have kept this up forever, were it not for two of her classmates. Aragaki Shinjiro and Sanada Akihiko were best friends, and prone to argument. Loud argument, and one day the app opened itself just as Mitsuru was passing by.

Long story short, the high school turned into a helltower infested with demonic creatures. Neither Akihiko or Shinjiro remembered exactly what had been said that day, so they were never able to return to the tower, but given the incredible strength of the creatures inside, none of them were complaining.

The only good thing out of their impromptu trip was Mochizuki Ryoji, a small child that had somehow followed them out of the Metaverse- as that was what it was called, at least according to him. Inside the Metaverse, he took the form of a boy roughly their age, and called himself Pharos. None of them questioned it.

This group of four found that there was a building with a natural Metaverse opening- and it was for sale, so Mitsuru convinced her father, who was the head of a company, to buy it and turn it into a place for them to live. All of them, as Shinjiro and Akihiko, upon their return, had found themselves to now be in possession of the app, as well.

As a group, they called themselves the Full Moon Thieves- at first a joke off of Pharos’ human name and the fact that he had a seemingly-infinite supply of lockpicks to use on treasure chests, and later because Mitsuru found a paper detailing the means by which to steal people’s hearts.

With Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Pharos fighting while Mitsuru alternated between support and being on the front lines, exploring the dimensional rift in their home, as well as occasionally pulling bigger jobs, could not have been easier.

* * *

  
  


At the same time as the Full Moon Thieves got started, a number of odd phenomena began to impact the world, especially the area around Iwatodai.

There were, of course, the Changes of Heart, which the four of them were enacting. There were psychotic breakdowns, which Ryoji insisted had to have a supernatural origin, though he was unsure of it- he wasn’t really sure of anything, beyond that he had two names/forms and his Persona was Thanatos- and the mental shutdowns, where people would lose all desire to live, and therefore die in a… fairly unpleasant way.

This second one, Ryoji had an answer for. “I can’t say for sure,” The boy said at dinner one day, “But I think that’s what happens when somebody’s Shadow… dies.”

None of them said anything to that, because the idea of killing someone else’s Shadow was unthinkable to them. So, of course, the hypothesis would have to go untested.

And it did so, up until the elder trio’s first year of high school. They were no stranger to ailments- Mitsuru had a special talent for Charm spells, and Pharos could inflict Panic and Despair better than even the Shadows- but it was the first time they had come into contact with Rage.

Suffice to say, it ended badly. And while they managed to convince him not to move out- by force, admittedly- Shinjiro refused to set foot in the Metaverse ever again.

This new status quo remained for just over another year. And thus, the story can more properly begin.

* * *

  
  


Shiomi Kotone. Sixteen, almost seventeen, years of age. One sibling, a twin brother named Sakuya, living in France as part of a foreign exchange program. Parents recently deceased, due to the victim of a psychotic breakdown crashing his car into theirs the month prior.

It wasn’t that unusual of a background for someone living in Iwatodai. She could list a number of her fellow Gekkoukan students that had also been affected in such a way, starting with her best friend, Takeba Yukari, whose father had been one of the first mental shutdown victims. So at least she had a support network.

But that didn’t mean Kotone wouldn’t be uprooted in any way. While Sakuya would be just fine over in France, she couldn’t stay in her parents’ apartment- no matter how much Mitsuko and Bunkichi wanted to pay her, that little bookshop she worked at simply didn’t earn that much money. And while she was sure they’d adopt her if she asked, she simply couldn’t imagine living in such a claustrophobic space.

This left dorm life. Except that the dorms were full. Thankfully, the Kirijo Group had come forward and provided a solution.

The Group’s Heiress, Mitsuru, lived in a building purchased for her along with some of her best friends. Who were all male. And while Kirijo Takeharu trusted his daughter, and was glad such an arrangement had gone on for five years without incident, he believed she could do with a female companion.

Kotone didn’t care much for the exact reasoning. She was just happy to have a home instead of constantly rotating through the apartments of Fuuka, Rio, and Yukari. Which she had honestly been considering for a bit. Sakuya probably wouldn’t have cared. He’d just bounce between his own best friends, Junpei and Kenji. Or maybe whatever girl he was sleeping with at the time, because he just didn’t know how to say ‘no’.

She was pretty sure that was the real reason he went to France, actually- his accidental harem all found out about each other. Sometimes, she could still hear them plotting his death in the halls.

She’d try to defend him, but… well… said harem had included Fuuka, Rio, and Yukari. And as much as she loved her brother, she valued her friends more. Especially since Rio could probably kill her with a volleyball if she tried hard enough, Fuuka’s cooking was borderline lethal, and Yukari was in the archery club. Self-preservation took precedence over family ties, even for twins.

This might or might not have been the real reason she wasn’t rotating between their apartments. Not that she’d tell anyone that. There were few better ways to ruin a friendship than to admit you were scared they were going to murder you.

For whatever reason, however, Kotone’s decision had been made, and she had to stick with it now. Even if the building looked far too nice to be a place where she would live, and she was starting to have second thoughts.

Well, she wouldn’t get anywhere if she just stood around doubting herself. Time to see her new home.

* * *

  
  


At first, Kotone thought that the lounge was empty. Everything was still, and quiet, and that was fine, because she liked things that way.

Apparently, it wasn’t. Though she wasn’t sure where the odd group of company heiress, boxing captain, elementary schooler, and dog came from, there wasn’t anything at all in that corner.

“So, I was thinking of inviting Ken-san over this weekend…” The boy with unnaturally bright blue eyes stated, only to pause. “Mitsuru-san, were we expecting anyone?”

“...Yes. We were. You are Shiomi Kotone, correct?” She nodded, unsure how to introduce herself. “I am Kirijo Mitsuru. This is Sanada Akihiko, and the little boy is Mochizuki Ryoji. The dog is Koromaru.” Said dog gave a happy little bark, before walking up to be petted.

“I’m not that little…” Ryoji whined.

“Your toy sword is more than half your height,” Akihiko pointed out. The boy pouted, before walking upstairs, Koromaru following him.

Mitsuru continued as though she had not been interrupted. “There is another person living here, as well. Koromaru is technically his therapy dog. You will probably meet him eventually.”

“By which she means dinner,” Akihiko elaborated. “Because he’s the only one here who can cook, and Mitsuru would kill him if he made us order takeout your first night here.”

...It was too late to start running in the other direction, wasn’t it? Damn it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sakuya was originally meant to play a larger part in this, but then I realized that his prolific dating tendencies would have been found out by now if he were living in Iwatodai this whole time. Therefore, I sent him to France. Probably better for him, all things considered.
> 
> Pharos/Ryoji is Morgana, basically. Only far more capable of doing things on his own in public. Note that this doesn't mean much. It is hard to be less publicly capable than a cat.
> 
> Koromaru isn't technically a party member. It just happens sometimes.
> 
> Poor Kotone has no idea what she just got herself into.


	2. Velvet Keys to the Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of a new school year, and both Kotone and Yukari have come to the realization that their lives are like an anime. Complete with phone calls from random people that claim to know a family member.
> 
> This does not bode well for the future.

It was the start of a new school year, and Takeba Yukari was worried. She knew there wasn’t any reason to- Kotone had called her just the night before, and she’d been just fine, then- but it was strange, riding the train by herself.

She didn’t count Kenji. Sakuya’s best friend, mainly interested in older women, no sense of timing. She wasn’t sure what Rio saw in him, really. Admittedly, still probably a better choice than Sakuya, but after the debacle that was last Christmas, anyone would be a better choice than Sakuya.

And she supposed that maybe, just maybe she could try and talk to Hiraga or Odagiri, but she barely knew their names- they’d always been more Sakuya’s friends…

Actually, was everyone on the train today one of Sakuya’s friends? She’d known he had a large social circle, but this was… impressive. For someone who claimed to not care about anything, it would normally be unthinkable that he’d know more people than the social butterfly that was Kotone, but the apathy seemed to be a part of his charm.

...She couldn’t believe that she was comparing the social lives of her best friend and her ex-boyfriend, even if they were siblings, on the train ride to school.

Oh, and this was Yuko’s station. Well, at least she had someone to talk to now. Even if she was a bit too busy preparing for the new swim season, already. She’d probably be okay with plotting to murder Sakuya once he got back from France, everyone always had time for that.

What she wouldn’t give, sometimes, for her life to feel like less of an anime.

* * *

  
  


That same morning, Kotone was also wondering what it would be like if her life was less like an anime. She’d probably be living in the normal dorms, for one, and not watching two third years and a dog dragging their recalcitrant friend to school.

“Don’t worry. You’ll probably get used to it,” Ryoji told her. “This happens every day, after all.” Oh, great, now she got to be part of the daily crazy train that always seemed to happen before school last year. Well, maybe she could just trail behind, sit in a different part of the train, and pretend she didn’t know them.

It wouldn’t really be a lie, even- one incredibly awkward dinner and breakfast did not a friendship make.

Her phone rang. She hoped that whoever was calling her could do so for long enough that her apprehensions vanished. “Hello?”

“Yes, this is- you’re Shiomi Kotone, right?” A male voice, though she didn’t know much beyond that, aside from the fact that he was hyperventilating.

“Um, yeah… who is this?”

“Oh, good… Sakuya-sama didn’t give Elizabeth the wrong number after all.” Elizabeth… She was fairly certain that had been a name on the list of girls that Sakuya had dated. Maybe. It was a long list.

“How do you know my brother?”

“He is… a friend. A very good friend. Kotone-sama, I need you to come to the Naganaki Shrine after school today. It is important that you do so, do you understand?”

No, seriously, she’d wanted her life to be less anime, not more. “But I- have to meet with Rio-chan. Volleyball…”

“You can come by after your meeting. However, it is imperative that you visit Naganaki Shrine at some point today.” And then, whoever was on the other end hung up.

Now, a relatively sensible person would have decided that this meeting was clearly shady, and not gone, at least without backup. But Kotone had just come to the conclusion that her life was an anime plot, and so couldn’t see the harm in it.

Besides, she’d always been busy cleaning up her brother’s messes. What was one more?

* * *

  
  


“Ah, Kotone-chan!”

“Yukari-chan!” She greeted her friend with a smile. “Have you seen the class listing yet?”

“Yeah, it looks like we’re in Toriumi-sensei’s class together this year… along with Tomochika and Stupei. Fuuka-chan and Rio-chan have Ekoda-sensei, though, so… I guess it’s a fair trade?” A decent homeroom in exchange for two obnoxious classmates? That sounded just fine, especially after last year, when… no, no. No need to remember the horrors of last year’s classroom.

“Yeah, anywhere but there will be great,” Kotone agreed. “Oh, I was wondering, since you’re… a fair bit more connected to the school rumor mill… have you ever met someone named Elizabeth?”

“No. It sounds foreign, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, I think she was one of my brother’s girlfriends, but… Everyone else he was seeing, I’d at least met. She’s just… a name on a list to me. You sure you’ve never heard of her?”

“I’m positive. She probably just doesn’t go to school here, Kotone-chan.”

“I guess…” But that sounded a fair bit wrong, and she still couldn’t help but wonder. “Come on, let’s get to class before all of the good seats are taken.”

* * *

  
  


Naganaki Shrine was a place full of memories. Kotone didn’t think there was anyone who grew up in Iwatodai that didn’t have fond memories of the place, as it was a popular location for children to play. Even now, she could see a trio of kids, and smiled slightly when she recognized Ryoji.

She paused, noticing something out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see a glowing blue butterfly. It sounded weird to be ascribing emotions to a bug, but it seemed almost like it wanted her to follow it.

Now, the average person, upon being approached by a glowing butterfly, would likely turn and leave right then and there, prior appointment be damned. But Kotone was transfixed, and as the insect fluttered away, she made to follow.

The butterfly led her onwards, and she was sure that there wasn’t meant to be a faintly glowing pale blue door in the back of the shrine, but there it was, though something seemed wrong about it, moreso than a door that hadn’t been there yesterday ever could be.

Kotone had expected such a door to be intangible, and maybe that was the case, though she didn’t get to find out, as it swung open to reveal a young man with silver hair and golden eyes. “Shiomi Kotone-sama?” He checked, in the same voice as the mysterious caller from that morning. She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything. “Come in. We have been waiting for you.”

The inside of the mysterious door from nowhere was simple. A table, a chair, a clock, and a pair of young women playing cards in the corner by the light of the room’s single candle. “Margaret, Elizabeth, this is Kotone-sama, Sakuya-sama’s twin sister.”

“I still want to know why you know my brother,” She found herself saying.

“Sakuya-sama is a dear Guest of ours,” The elder of the two women stated. “To be more specific, he was Elizabeth’s Guest, attempting to help us to reclaim the Velvet Room.”

“...Velvet Room?”

“Yes,” The final of the odd people stated. “The Velvet Room is a place between dream and reality, mind and matter. I am Elizabeth, and this is my older sister, Margaret, as well as our younger brother, Theodore. If you find his name too long, you may simply call him Theo.”

“But your name is longer than mine…” The male pointed out. Elizabeth ignored him. Sighing, he turned to Margaret. “Sister, do you believe she will be suitable for our purposes?”

“If she can see the door, then there is no reason to believe that she will not be.”

“You guys kind of lost me.”

“Very well. Let’s start with something a local human would understand. Have you ever heard of the Full Moon Thieves?”

Of course she had. It was hard not to. They were a group that had appeared out of nowhere four years ago, with almost nothing known about them beyond the fact that whoever made their calling cards had meticulous handwriting. They called themselves a ring of thieves, but what they stole wasn’t what other people would call treasure.

They stole hearts. And not in the way that Sakuya did, with accidental flirting and overly-forward gifts, but in a way that left their victims confessing to every wrong they’d ever done, with the ones who didn’t get arrested quickly changing their lives for the better.

Most victims were the type that stayed unarrested- a compulsive gambler here, someone who cheated on exams there- but it was the bigger targets, always taken down on a full moon, that had caught interest.

The choice of targets, themselves, were interesting- a mad scientist, an orphanage matron who misused her funds, and multiple crooked businesspeople. A number of these Changes of Heart benefitted the Kirijo Group in some way, and a number of people had tried to find a connection over the years, but they exposed just as many crimes committed by those within the Group as those without, so most had given up on that already.

There had also been people who attempted to find a connection between the Full Moon Thieves and the psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns that had started occurring roughly six months before their debut, but as the sole visible connection was that it was a mental change, anyone suggesting it these days would be laughed out of the room for lack of evidence.

The police had their hands full trying to figure out the more dangerous occurrences, going as far as to hire the Shirogane family, so it was generally agreed upon that the Full Moon Thieves would be left alone until they proved themselves harmful.

Little kids loved them. Kotone’s friend Fuuka was a fan as well, having started a forum specifically to discuss them. Personally, she didn’t really see the appeal.

“I have.”

Theodore nodded. “The Full Moon Thieves are a group of what we call ‘Persona Users’. They have the ability to navigate worlds made from human thought and emotion, defending themselves from the horrors that lurk at humanity’s heart using a Persona, the representation of their souls.”

“The Velvet Room exists to aid Persona Users,” Margaret continued. “And it has, for many centuries, up until about ten years ago. A powerful being appeared and defeated our Master, Igor, before capturing our younger sister, Lavenza. The three of us managed to flee the Room, but as the being still lurks within, it is unsafe for us to return.”

“That is where Sakuya-sama came in,” Elizabeth stated. “The door to our shelter is similar to the Velvet Room, as it can only be seen by certain people. This door, for example, can be seen by any Persona User, while the Velvet Room is meant for those that have signed some sort of contract with a resident. Sakuya-sama was able to sign a contract with us and gain access to the Velvet Room’s services.”

“And now he’s in France, so you need someone else,” Kotone finished. “Do I get anything out of this?”

“You shall gain the ability to take on whatever Persona you may need,” Theodore offered, “As well as an increased sense of empathy when it comes to the people you care for.”

“...Did Saku-nii have that second one?”

“Yes.”

“...I swear, every time I think I’ve come to terms with his romantic history, something happens to make it worse. Sure, whatever. I’m in.” After all, if her life was an anime, she may as well get cool powers from it, right? Right.

“Very well. Sign here.” When they said it was a contract, Kotone had expected some document filled with legal jargon that nobody ever actually read. In reality, it was rather simple.

**_‘I shall take full responsibility for my actions in this twisted game.’_ ** At the very least, it would be easy to live by. For anyone.

Well, maybe not her brother. But even he was willing to own up to having made a mistake after his harem showed up on their doorstep.

Theodore handed her a key. “Kotone-sama, this will mark you as a Guest of the Velvet Room. The door shall become visible to you in due time, though I recommend you not tell anyone of having met us, just in case. And this will enable your access to the Metaverse.”

“...This is a smartphone.” Not that she was complaining… she’d been using the same cheap phone just about forever.

“Yes. I took the liberty of adding all of the contacts from your old phone for you. There is an app on it that will give you free Metaverse access. I would explain more, but I imagine you must be tired after a long day.”

A bit, yes. Also, she needed to contact Sakuya and ask why he hadn’t told her any of this.

* * *

  
  


Shiomi Sakuya was enjoying life in France. People didn’t take the things he said the wrong way, the girls didn’t automatically want to date him, and nobody was pressuring him into going to the Metaverse when he didn’t even know the keywords for any local Palaces.

And then his phone rang. “Oh, hey, Koto.”

“Saku-nii.” Oh, shit, she was pissed. “Did you get superpowers three years ago and never say a word to me?”

Yes, he very much preferred living in France. It was safer there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The female populace of Gekkoukan is currently Not Happy with Sakuya. Should've been a bit more careful with those Social Links, buddy.
> 
> Fuuka's closest P5 equivalent is Mishima. Except you can actually recruit Fuuka. She's going to be ecstatic.
> 
> Cue Kotone running around and trying to tell all her friends that she switched phones and this is her number now, no the last one isn't broken, she just got a cool gift along with some superpowers.
> 
> ...I need Persona-related puns. Now. I want better chapter titles, and that's the best way to do it. P3 puns preferred, but general P5 ones still accepted.


	3. Foolish Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kotone's first day with her powers. It goes about as well as can be expected.

Late that night, Shinjiro sat on the couch with Koromaru. The television was on, but he wasn’t paying it any particular attention. It was always the same thing, anyway. Psychotic breakdowns still happened, whoever was causing the mental shutdowns still hadn’t stopped, and his friends still insisted on playing heroes.

Absentmindedly, he deleted the Metaverse app again. It’d come back in a few days, there was no getting rid of it, but it made him feel better.

“You think they’ll be back soon?” He asked Koromaru. The dog gave the canine equivalent of a shrug. Which was sort of weird to see, even if he did have a Persona somehow. It figured that, of all the animals Mitsuru could pick out for him, she chose the one that just so happened to have powers.

He tried not to worry. Aki had said that they’d picked out a lower-level Palace this month, to help with that challenge of thirteen Palaces in a year. Shinjiro had been joking, he actually thought it was a terrible idea, but what did he know? He wasn’t a Thief anymore.

The door opened, and Koromaru’s ears pricked up, but it was just Shiomi. He had reservations about letting someone who didn’t even know about the Metaverse live there, but it had been out of their hands. Mitsuru’s father was the one who owned the building, after all, and they wouldn’t want to lose their easy access to Mementos. There were only a few local gates in, after all.

“I’m back!” She declared. “Aragaki-senpai, have the others come home yet?”

He shook his head. “They all had… business… to take care of.” In other words, securing the route to the Treasure. Honestly, they were cutting it rather close. The full moon wasn’t even a week away.

He wished they’d stop sending him status updates. Yes, some of the places they raided were rather impressive, and it had admittedly been cute that time Pharos got a Jack Frost to pose with him, but it really wasn’t any of his business, and it just made him worry.

It’d also help if Aki would stop forgetting that he had healing spells, but something told him that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. For someone who said he was worried about him, he sure seemed to love attempting to give Shinjiro a heart attack.

“Really? This late?” He shrugged. He was used to it- thieves struck at night, after all. “Even Ryoji-kun?”

“They’re busy people,” He told her, which was the closest he could get to the truth without sounding crazy.

“I guess… hey, do you mind if I change the channel?”

“Go ahead.” Shiomi didn’t say anything else- just sat down and ended up absorbed in her quiz show. All things considered, he supposed there was worse company.

* * *

  
  


Kotone couldn’t sleep. Part of it was that she still hadn’t fully settled in to this new place- she’d retrieved her Jack Frost doll, but Frosty wasn’t providing as much comfort as he had when she was a kid.

Another part of it was her new phone. It was surprisingly nice, certainly nothing she could have afforded by herself, and it would apparently give her powers. Somehow. She still wasn’t too sure on that part, other than that the Metaverse app would get her there.

She hadn’t opened the app yet. She’d decided to try it later, on a day when she didn’t have anything planned. She was already running on incomplete information, no need to have exhaustion factor into it.

She couldn’t wait.

* * *

  
  


“Are you okay, Kirijo-senpai?” The new girl asked. Mitsuru nodded. It wasn’t like it was the first time she’d stayed up late trying to get the calling card absolutely perfect. Far from it- she’d had a long and successful thieving career. Little things like late-night adventures were nothing to her anymore.

It came to mind that it probably wasn’t healthy, but she wasn’t going to be able to talk Akihiko out of that stupid challenge of his if Shinjiro couldn’t, and there was no way she was letting him or Ryoji run off into a Palace on their own.

It helped that they had a number of Palaces in mind already- sometimes they didn’t have anything better to do than say a bunch of random names and keywords into their phones and see what came up. It even worked a lot of the time.

Mitsuru’s room had so much incriminating evidence in it that she could never let another living being in there. She really needed a safe way to dispose of failed calling cards after Koromaru broke the shredder. It would be very hard to explain why she needed a new one so urgently.

“Don’t worry about her,” Akihiko told Shiomi. “She just had a late night, that’s all. It happens every now and again.”

“Oh, okay.” She didn’t ask any more questions. Good. Mitsuru couldn’t think too much about anything right now.

She had a calling card to deliver.

* * *

  
  


Kotone couldn’t focus at all in school that day. She just kept thinking about what had happened the previous day, about the odd trio of siblings, her new phone, and what she’d learned about the Full Moon Thieves.

She was certain that, if Fuuka had realized she knew anything about the mysterious group, she’d be pulled over and interrogated without a second thought. By Rio and Yukari, because Fuuka couldn’t be intimidating if her life depended on it, but the point still stood.

“Um… are you all right?” And speaking of Fuuka…

“I’m fine, just… thinking.” About what a Persona could possibly look like, about where she could find an entrance to the Metaverse. Things like that, which she could never share with another living being. “Hey, Fuuka-chan, I was wondering… what makes you like the Full Moon Thieves so much?”

“Well… you remember, right? How Odagiri-senpai became so much nicer after they stole his heart? And there wasn’t any lasting harm. Yes, some of their targets do seem to go mad with guilt, but that’s because they were made into better people. I like that- that they make bad people good again.”

“That makes sense,” Yukari commented. “And it’s better than most people our age- they just like things because it’s cool. And then they take it overboard...”

At once, the three of them and Rio glanced across the courtyard they were eating in, watching Akihiko’s dejected fangirls.

“It’s really a good thing he has Aragaki-senpai,” Rio noted. “Otherwise, they’d probably catch him a lot more often.”

“I guess that’s why he drags him to school every day,” Kotone agreed. Her friends glanced at her. “What? He actually does. I should know- I live with them now.”

“So, speaking of the Full Moon Thieves,” Yukari changed the subject, “They’ve been pretty active lately, haven’t they?”

Fuuka nodded. “Yes. Since January, they’ve taken out a target on every single full moon. The account claiming to represent them on my forum says that one of their members has taken up a challenge to change the hearts of thirteen important people this year. And, of course, they’re still handling smaller targets, though less often now. Most likely so they can prepare for the bigger jobs.”

“That’d probably be more impressive if we knew how they stole hearts in the first place,” Yukari said. “Anyway, I didn’t ask before, but Fuuka-chan, Rio-chan, is there anything interesting in your class?”

“Well, there’s Hasegawa,” Rio suggested. “She’s a couple years older than us, just transferred in. Ekoda-sensei doesn’t like her very much.”

Kotone shrugged. “Ekoda-sensei doesn’t like anyone. If he starts giving her trouble, send her over to the library committee. We’ll take care of her.”

Yukari sighed. “I still can’t believe they made you the head of that…”

“Hey, I’m perfectly responsible!”

“You’re the only person in school who finds sorting books fun.” And soon, Kotone found herself distracted from thoughts of supernatural abilities and mysterious applications by simple conversation with her friends.

* * *

  
  


Kotone blinked. Looked at her phone. Looked at the corner of the building she now lived in. Looked again.

“So this is where you live now, Kotone-chan?” Yukari had insisted on coming over to help her unpack. In reality, Kotone was pretty sure she just wanted to reclaim anything she had ever given Sakuya, whose things would be sitting around until she got around to shipping them to France. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t bring herself to say no.

Nobody else was back yet. Not a surprise, they’d grabbed a ride on the first train out of there. “Yeah, it’s a nice place, isn’t it?” She knew that, honestly, she should have been paying more attention to Yukari. But a possible confirmation of the past two days was right there…

Before she knew it, she found herself walking into the corner. “I guess so, but- Kotone-chan? What are you doing?”

**_Would you like to access the Metaverse?_ **

**_Yes_ **

She could feel it, the moment she left reality. A ripple, a shift, an odd weight settling on her, including a red butterfly mask. Her outfit remained mostly unchanged- it looked more like a business uniform than a high school one, but that was really just a matter of lengthening the skirt and shortening the jacket. The high-heeled combat boots would likely be a pain until she learned to to run in them, but overall, she thought she liked the new wardrobe.

“That- Kotone-chan, where are we? Why did your clothes change?” Oh, and Yukari had somehow followed her, and...

“I wouldn’t be say anything about my outfit if I were you,” She warned. “I’m not the one who looks like a Featherman character.” Albeit very pink. Which confirmed her theory that her friend was a secret sentai nerd quite nicely, but that didn’t matter so much. “At least what I’m wearing is semi-practical.”

“Whatever you say… what is this place, anyway?” Kotone probably wasn’t the best person to explain it. She’d only known about it for a day, after all, and her explanations had been… lacking, to say the least.

“It’s… well, my phone says it’s called Mementos, but more importantly, it’s part of the Metaverse. I’m not too sure of what’s going on, but we’re apparently meant to explore it?” Not that she knew anything for sure, she’d have to pay those siblings another visit sometime.

“What?” But Kotone didn’t have time for more explanations- she spotted a glow the next floor down, and just had to see what it was. “Kotone-chan, wait!”

The source of the glow was a floating creature with a pumpkin head carrying a lantern. It was pretty cute, actually.

As soon as the creature noticed them, however, it spun around, immediately throwing fireballs at them. Which was less than ideal, especially as she didn’t know how to fight back. What was it those odd people had said again? A reflection of her soul?

_ (Thou art I… and I am thou…) _ Oh. Right. Personas… masks. Like the one on her face.

That the first appearance of her inner self was to bash a pumpkin’s head in with a lyre probably said something about her, but she didn’t want to know what that was.

Yukari copied her a moment later. Kotone tried to convince her that she didn’t need healing, and the burns were only superficial. She failed.

* * *

  
  


“Come on, the stairs back are just up ahead! Hurry!” Yukari shouted. Kotone didn’t even have time to nod- the sound of chains was getting louder. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew it was something that Orpheus and Io couldn’t defeat. Pixie and Pyro Jack might have fared better, but she doubted it.

Upon finally reaching the stairs- she’d been right about the boots being a pain to run in- Yukari grabbed her hand and pulled her to safety.

Down below, the Reaper glared at them with its one good eye, before shuffling away, the chains sounding vaguely annoyed at not having caught its prey. Upon realizing that she was now trying to figure out the emotions of the thing that had just tried to kill them, Kotone wondered if maybe that extra empathy she’d been promised wasn’t such a good thing after all.

Her eyes caught on a deep blue door. That was probably the Velvet Room she’d been asked to infiltrate. She’d check later, once she wasn’t recovering from being horribly lost in Mementos and chased by what felt like Death itself.

Still, as the two of them stumbled out and back to reality, it came to mind that she really should have thought this through better, because Koromaru ran up to greet them, his owner just behind them.

Aragaki Shinjiro gave them a long, impassive look before simply asking, “How long?”

“What are you talking about?” She replied, wondering if he knew about the opening to the cognitive world that was in their home.

He sighed and shook his head. “Never mind.” He didn’t seem interested in continued conversation. Kotone didn’t have a problem with that.

“Come on, Yukari-chan, everything’s in my room.” Might as well get that unpacking help she was promised.

* * *

  
  


**_‘We got the Treasure!!!’_ ** Shinjiro didn’t spare the picture- his friends all standing around a golden object, the last vision of the Palace still intact- a second glance before deleting Pharos’ message, and the image with it. Honestly, that kid used far too many exclamation points. At least he hadn’t included any emoticons this time.

He wondered, not for the first time, if it wouldn’t be easier to just throw his phone away. But Mitsuru paid good money for it, and she didn’t need ice powers to be terrifying.

There was a crashing sound from upstairs. He hoped those girls didn’t get into too much trouble- but then, they’d survived Mementos for at least an hour, given that he’d have noticed if they stumbled in while he was there. They’d be fine.

He wondered if he should tell the others that the girls had access to the Metaverse. They’d dodged his question, but it couldn’t have been for all that long- Mitsuru’d run a background check on Shiomi which involved meeting with her Shadow. Shinjiro was pretty sure ‘meeting with’ was code for ‘interrogating’, but that had stopped being his concern a long time ago.

For a moment, he wished the Metaverse app would come back on his phone already, just so he could delete it again. Not that it would solve anything.

Another text, this one from Aki.  **_‘So, you’re making dinner, right? We’re too tired to pick anything up on the way back.’_ **

**_‘Then stop raiding Palaces while sleep-deprived.’_ ** Honestly, it was simple common sense. But then, Aki and common sense had never really gone together.

Just for that, he wasn’t going to tell them about Shiomi. Let them find out on their own.

It wasn’t his problem.

* * *

  
  


Meanwhile, across town, a much less amicable group of people with Metaverse access were gathered around a computer, reading names into their phones.

“-yama.”

**_Match Found._ **

“Isshiki Wakaba.”

**_Match Found._ **

“Nanjo Kei.”

  
  


Some distance away, a man paused in the middle of work and asked himself a question. “Aizen, Yamaoka, do you feel anything?” A negative from his two remaining Personas. “...Must be my imagination.”

  
  


**_Match Not Found._ **

“Hey, what the-!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I don't know how they send texts from metaspace. I assume Mitsuru and Penthesilea are providing assistance.
> 
> Yes, Yukari's Metaverse outfit is Pink Argus. Similarly, Mitsuru has what she wears in P4A, just with an added mask. While Kotone wears something that is actually semi-practical.
> 
> ...You just know that, at some point or another, Akechi has had to deal with this happening. Especially when there's no official listings of Persona Users or anything. It's very hard to enforce something that nobody can know exists. Have fun with that cameo, it's the most you'll be getting for a while.


	4. A Sporting Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plan: Downtime.
> 
> Plan failed.

Yukari had heard people say, when strange things started happening, or they’d learned something shocking, that their world had been turned upside-down. She didn’t understand why they’d say that- it was an altogether different feeling from what she was experiencing.

She looked at her phone. The app Kotone had used stared up at her, almost mockingly. She wasn’t sure when it had gotten there.

As an experiment, she’d tried deleting it. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes later that it popped up again, and she was sure now that it was mocking her. It wouldn’t surprise her. After fairies and pumpkin wizards, a sentient phone app was nothing.

At least she knew it wasn’t her imagination. Like the constant presence of Io couldn’t attest to that. Nothing like a nudging presence in the back of your mind to make you start questioning your sanity.

She’d go to bed early tonight. And, the next day, she’d see if Kotone wouldn’t be up for a little experimentation with their new powers. After all, this thing had to be good for something, right?

Right.

* * *

  
  


Ryoji enjoyed pretending to be a normal kid. After what he believed to be roughly ten years of existence, five of that in the human world, he felt that it was safe to say that he was finally getting the hang of social norms. For the most part. His only same-age friend was still the most mature kid in class.

It was easier, of course, when he was Pharos, but everything was easier when he was Pharos. The form he took in the Metaverse had always come to him naturally, unlike the others, who had problems getting the Rulers of the various Palaces to recognize them as threats at first.

At first. But then Mitsuru had come up with her ‘executions’, and everything sort of fell into place after that. Of course, even now they didn’t always transform until Akihiko punched one of the cognitions in the face or something, but you couldn’t have everything.

Things were easier for Ryoji when he was Pharos, but he didn’t particularly like being Pharos. No more than he liked Thanatos’ presence inside his mind. It was his Persona, yes, but there was something else about it that he didn’t enjoy… something hungry. And being Pharos caused that feeling to envelop him, though he was always careful to remain in control of it.

As much as he disliked being Pharos, however, Ryoji couldn’t help but wish he was in the Metaverse at the moment, because Pharos would better know how to wave off everyone’s concerns.

“You shouldn’t be falling asleep in class like that, Ryoji-san,” Ken reminded him.

“It’ll be fine. Nobody notices,” He pointed out. Which was true. People did tend to overlook him when he didn’t want to be noticed, no matter what form he took. It was great for getting into places where kids weren’t allowed, even if it didn’t always work.

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“It won’t be a problem. I know everything already!” Lying through his teeth. Worst case, he could ask Mitsuru for help. She’d understand, even if he’d be left shivering for some time after.

“Really? What’s the answer to this question, then?” Actually, no. Worst case was that someone would actually call him out on it.

“Um…”

“You know, if you keep lying like that, the Full Moon Thieves might just come and steal your heart!” It was a joke, of course, even if Ken was a bit of a fanboy, but…

“They don’t target little kids,” He found himself pointing out. “And even if they did, that could never happen.” People with Personas didn’t have Shadows anymore, after all. And even if they did, the only reason they’d change the heart of one of their own members would be if said member was… well… not in a good place, mentally.

Ryoji didn’t like thinking about that possibility. It was hard enough seeing strangers afflicted by the distortions- he simply couldn’t imagine anything like that happening to one of his friends.

* * *

  
  


It came to mind that, when Theodore gave her her new phone, Kotone should have asked for clarification on how, exactly, the Metaverse app worked. She was sure the computer club would kill to get their hands on it- Fuuka especially, but she thought even Keisuke would be fascinated by how it worked.

If they could figure out how it worked.

“So, you’re saying you got this from a few weird blue people, didn’t ask anything, and were told you had to help them get their room back?” Okay, when Yukari put it like that, it did sound kind of stupid. But she’d been dazzled by the promise of superpowers.

“I know, I know, it was a bad idea. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing. I guess I could go back to the shrine for help, but…” She shrugged. “Maybe we should try Mementos again?”

“And deal with the thing that showed up last time? Not a chance.” Right. That was a good point. Waiting to handle the place with the ridiculously overpowered enemy until actually knowing what their powers could do was simple common sense. Which Kotone liked to think she actually possessed.

“Yeah, and those other Shadows weren’t exactly pushovers, either,” She admitted. “We’ll need some way to fight back besides our Personas.”

“I could probably borrow a practice bow and some arrows from the archery club,” Yukari suggested. “No one would notice them going missing, but I’d need somewhere to hide them… and I’m not sure, but I don’t think you can kill something very easily with a volleyball.”

“I still wouldn’t put it past Rio-chan to find a way, but you’re right. They don’t make good weapons unless you’re firing them from a cannon.” Still… she made a mental note to ask Fuuka and Rio if they thought that a volleyball cannon would be viable. At the very least, it’d make for an interesting topic of conversation in the years to come.

Or maybe they’d just kill themselves with sporting equipment. With how their luck was, it wouldn’t surprise her.

* * *

  
  


Kotone eventually ended up choosing a simple hockey stick as her weapon. Which, in this case meant that she saw a model she liked when she dragged Yukari to a sporting goods store so that they wouldn’t have to steal their weapons from the school. She wasn’t sure just how much damage, exactly, it would do to the Shadows, but at least she now had something to hit them with besides Orpheus’ harp.

“Hey, Koto-tan, Yuka-tan!” Not that they were the only ones in the store, unfortunately. “Didn’t expect to see you here. And… you know that’s not a volleyball, right, Koto-tan?”

“I know that!” She snapped back, causing Junpei to flinch. “It- it’s a long story. Wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Junpei. He was, in fact, bearable in small doses. And as Sakuya had been inviting him over for the better part of two years, she’d built up a tolerance.

It was just that she didn’t want him and Yukari to try and kill each other.

“Don’t wanna say anything, huh? It’s cool. I was actually here about something else…”

“Spit it out already,” Yukari told him, as she had not built up a tolerance for the capped Magician.

Kotone blinked. Why was she thinking of Junpei as a Magician? Had she just not gotten enough sleep last night?

There was a nudging sensation in the back of her head, and she cast into her mind. Orpheus, Fool. Pixie, Lovers. Pyro Jack, Magician. And there were small, invisible tendrils that seemed to connect Pixie to Yukari, and Junpei to Pyro Jack, though Yukari’s was much… stronger, seemed to be a good word.

Kotone backed out of her own head before she could attempt to observe any more closely. Something told her messing around with those strings would be a bad idea, or at least leave her only more confused.

“So, Koto-tan… you live in the same building as Sanada-senpai now, right?”

“I’m not introducing you.”

“Man, that’s cold… really, though, people were saying he was hurt earlier? Something about his wrist?”

“Oh, right. I’m not really too sure what happened to him, actually. He showed up like that just before dinnertime. Aragaki-senpai wasn’t pleased, but they said Sanada-senpai will be fine in a few days.”

She remembered how, last night, the three missing residents of the building had returned with various injuries. She’d never heard about anything like this happening last year, but Shinjiro was acting like it was a regular thing, muttering about how they were going to get themselves killed one day.

She was pretty sure they’d forgotten she was there, actually, up until Ryoji took notice. Which was probably a bad sign, but, well, it wasn’t like she really knew them. They could do weird things all they wanted.

Unless they got arrested, anyway. That would probably make it her problem.

“That is strange…” Yukari commented. “Come on, you said you were going to look for something at the Paulownia Mall, right?”

She nodded. A nice, simple excuse. “Yeah, that’s right. See you around, Junpei-kun!” Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice anything odd about them.

* * *

  
  


“So, I was thinking we should go after Tanaka next.”

“Akihiko, the last Change of Heart hasn’t even taken full effect yet, and won’t until tomorrow,” Mitsuru reminded him. It was strange how the collapse of a Palace always took full effect a day after the full moon, but it did mean that they could plan their heists better, so none of them were complaining.

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean we can’t plan ahead.” Mitsuru turned to look at him fully.

“We are taking the week off so that you can heal in a way Shiomi will not question. Am I understood?”

It would have been so much easier had they just remembered to use Dia before taking the Treasure. But the Thieves were spoiled, used to always being able to slip into Mementos to heal whatever ills afflicted them. And Shiomi had been home, and seen them with their injuries, so while they could use magic to heal at an accelerated rate, they couldn’t just cast a few spells and call it a day anymore.

Well, not when Shiomi was home, anyway. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Akihiko shivered, wondering how she could make the air around her so cold even when she didn’t have Penthesilea summoned. “...Understood.”

* * *

  
  


Iori Junpei, Ace Detective, was on the case. He wanted to know why his classmates were acting strangely- especially as it was Kotone and Yukari, who he liked to say were his friends.

Now, it was easy to see something was up- Shiomi Kotone, who was either first or second in the year depending on how Yamagishi was doing, easily distracted? Buying equipment for a sport that wasn’t volleyball? Totally out of character.

And then Yukari had started following her example the day after. Suffice to say, Junpei was concerned. And so, being himself, he decided that the best possible thing he could do was to stalk them.

...Reasoning wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

Either way, bad idea or not, he was following them along in the direction of the mall, brand-new baseball bat in hand, not even close enough to hear what they were saying clearly, but paying attention to what he could nonetheless.

Now, when friends you aren’t really close to vanish into a portal that nobody else seems to notice, most people would leave.

Junpei was not most people. He stepped right through the portal himself without a second thought, finding himself in front of a giant office building that he knew he’d have noticed before if it existed in Iwatodai.

...He could tell, this was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...So, yeah. Kotone and Yukari's second day as Persona Users, and they and Junpei decide to wander into a Palace armed with nothing but sporting equipment. At least they aren't pulling a Yosuke and waving weapons around in public.
> 
> My personal theory as to why Akihiko was out with injuries for so long in P3- He forgot he had Dia, and Mitsuru was waiting for him to catch on and remember until he showed up at school obviously injured. Hint failed. Here, where they have access to a Shadow Nest in their house, something similar happens because they don't know Kotone has a Persona and Shinji's feeling too spiteful to tell them. Yet he still cooks their victory dinner.
> 
> And Mitsuru still has an incredible aptitude for channeling Penthesilea, mostly so it can help her scare people. That's a good reason to hand out powers, right?


	5. The Magic Awakens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...Or, well, the Magician does. Same basic deal, right?

Kotone supposed, in hindsight, that Tanaka seeing the mall as just another extension of his business made sense. He was always there, attempting to catch people in one scam or another, though at least his products, when they were actually delivered, were decent.

She still wasn’t sure why he was selling swords and the like over the television shopping channel, or why Sakuya- okay, in hindsight, she knew exactly why Sakuya bought them. But it wasn’t like the man could have known that there’d be a market for them.

“Ugh, I stand out so badly in this…” Yukari complained, the overbearing pink of her outfit providing a huge contrast to the dark blues and blacks of the cognitions in the Palace. Kotone privately agreed with her, as nothing had taken notice when she’d slipped out on her own.

“Don’t draw attention to yourself,” She advised. “Just stay out of sight, and if we run into anybody, let me do the talking, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” They’d already had to fight a set of Shadows on their way in, though these weren’t recognizable in the way that Pixie and Pyro Jack had been. Incomplete, or at least that was the feeling Kotone got from them.

Either way, it turned out that killing monsters with sporting equipment was actually a lot easier than it sounded. Which was good, but she was still purchasing a naginata- that was basically a hockey stick with a blade, right?- as soon as a good one was for sale. Most likely from Tanaka himself, which was really weird to think about, but it wasn’t like she intended to dwell on it for long.

Honestly, though, if she didn’t want those thoughts, she should have ignored Yukari and just sought out the Velvet Room.

On the bright side, this place at least didn’t have any rattling chains, and she’d take it if it meant not running for her life until she got used to her new boots. Well, so much, anyway.

“There’s the elevator,” She stated, nudging her friend’s shoulder. “I’ll try and talk our way on, and if it fails, you shoot, okay?” Hopefully, the cognitions acting as guards wouldn’t have a problem with a random teenager carrying around a hockey stick.

...She was doomed.

* * *

  
  


Junpei knew that he didn’t belong there. Between the fact that Kotone and Yukari had cool new outfits while he didn’t, the well-dressed people that turned into monsters, and the other monsters that the girls would summon by simply ripping off their masks- although Kotone had a somewhat more impressive arsenal than Yukari- it was easy to see that a normal guy like him just couldn’t fit in. And seeing the monsters that attacked the girls, he also knew that he didn’t want to be caught.

He felt like a stalker, sneaking after them like this. And he probably was, even if he was forced to at this point by his fear of letting the only two people that he knew to be other actual human beings out of his sight.

Huh. The regret he’d felt when he’d agreed not to tell anyone about Sakuya dating Yuko- his first girlfriend, who if everyone had known about, would probably have stopped the past winter from being so terrible- had nothing on this.

Of course, Sakuya’s relationship drama hadn’t involved him directly, beyond the fact that it sent one of his best friends out of the country. So it wasn’t that strange, that he’d write it off as not a big deal. And then it turned out to be so.

Just ahead of him, he saw another group of monsters confront Kotone and Yukari. Some were bloblike, some were ‘normal’ monster shapes, and there was a single, human sized hand that looked like it was made of literal gold.

He wanted that hand. But, of course, it slipped out of range of the girls’ attacks and scuttled down the hall- right at him.

Today was just not his day.

“Junpei-kun!? What are you doing here!?” Kotone called, at the same time summoning a pumpkin to throw fire at the hand, only for her spell to fall short of the target.

That was the last thing he heard, before the Treasure Hand collided with him head-on, and he fell into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

  
  


“I can’t believe he followed us…” Yukari sighed, attempting to case Dia on Junpei as they hid under a desk. “Huh? Why’s it not working?”

“Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have a Persona?” Kotone suggested from her perch on a swivel chair, before an idea came to her. “Huh, I just imagined going out and hunting down other Persona Users by throwing healing magic at them.”

“We could also just bring them here and see if their clothes change,” Yukari pointed out, digging through her school bag. “Where did I put those bandages?”

“Um, Yukari-chan? Why do you have so many bandages in the first place?” She asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. She leaned down towards the desk, wishing she could spin the chair around, but for the fact that not only would they attract more attention, but she really didn’t want to make herself dizzy at a time like this. She had some sense of self-control.

“Well, I don’t know how much Io’s healing spells can do,” She replied. “...Worst case, we can use the money that thing dropped to pay for his hospital bills.”

Kotone had never thought that she’d be in this situation, and she was glad she hadn’t, because if she had, it would probably have been a sign that something was seriously wrong with her. She was pretty sure Yukari was only not freaking out because they remembered the way back out… or, worst case, could jump from a window. Io had enough room to float down three people, right?

“We should try and head back out of here once he wakes up,” She decided. “We don’t really know what we’re doing, after all… Hagakure sound good to you?”

“How can you think of food at a time like this?” Her friend asked. She shrugged.

“Well, using magic takes energy, and Mitsuru-senpai would probably notice if I was half-dead coming back to the dorm.” At least they had Dia. She’d hate to have to explain away injuries that seemingly came from out of nowhere.

“...Right. And I don’t want Mom to worry too much…” They both stopped to consider that maybe they’d been a bit reckless about running off as soon as they’d found a match. “Do you think he’s concussed?”

“I hope not- even if Dia worked on him, I’d hate to try healing something like that. Try waking him up again.”

* * *

  
  


When Junpei came to, it was to the idle chatter of female voices. Two very familiar female voices. And that was when the memories hit him. “So… this isn’t a dream, is it?”

“What tipped you off?” Yukari asked, showing no concern for the fact that he’d run face-first into a quickly running hand made of solid gold.

“Yukari-chan, this isn’t the time for that,” Kotone reminded her. “We need to try and get out, before more of Shadows notice we’re here.”

“Shadows? You mean those monsters?” He checked, pushing himself up and pretending that the pounding sensation in his head didn’t mean anything.

“Well, that’s what my Personas say they’re called, and they don’t really have any reason to lie to me… Junpei-kun, do you think you can walk, or does Yukari-chan have to get Io to help you?”

“I’ll be fine!” He blustered, before bumping his head on the desk they were hiding under. He winced in pain, and Yukari sighed before ushering him out. “So, what is this place, anyway?” If he was stuck here with them, he might as well at least know where they were.

“This is the Metaverse,” Kotone said. “Or, well, part of it. I didn’t get all that much of an explanation myself… but this is the Palace belonging to Tanaka, from that television program. Here, Paulownia Mall takes the shape of just another branch of his business.”

“The Meta-what?”

Yukari groaned. “Is it really the time for this? I thought were going to head home.” Kotone shrugged.

“Hey, for all I know, this app could spread to anyone who ends up here, not just Persona Users. He needs to know.”

“...Right, I guess we can’t let him get killed.”

“I am right here, you know…” But the girls ignored him, instead gathering up their supplies, such as they were. Still, he followed them, if only because they were the ones who had a chance of knowing what they were doing to any extent.

They were on the building’s second floor, and so they decided to backtrack down to the first. However, there were some literally faceless goons waiting right in front of the stairs.

“A trap?” Yukari asked. Kotone shrugged.

“Does it surprise you? We’ve been here for at least three hours, of course they’d notice we were here. We’ll just have to fight back!” And with that, she ripped off her mask again, this time calling a figure with a harp.

Junpei blinked. “Um… Koto-tan? Are you okay?” Just about the only time she got fired up for anything was volleyball, and he was pretty sure that was because Iwasaki didn’t want to see anything less.

As it turned out, however, a practice bow and a hockey stick, while decent enough weapons, could only go so far. Particularly when one of the creatures was throwing lightning around- Yukari ended up bent over on the ground, while Kotone was frozen up from her astraphobia.

He wasn’t sure, but Junpei thought there was a good chance the three of them were going to die there. And in that moment, it felt like time had stopped.

_ (So, that’s it? You’re just going to lay down and die?) _ He wasn’t sure where the voice came from. For all he knew, it could’ve been all in his head.

In a way, it was. “But what can I do?” He found himself asking aloud. “Koto-tan and Yuka-tan are the ones with the cool powers. I’m just nobody.”

_ (And is that enough of a reason for you to give up on life!? Of making something of yourself, no matter how small!?) _

“Hell no! Of course I’ll fight!” His hand tightened on his baseball bat- he wasn’t sure what it’d do to these things, but there had to be some way he could fight back.

_ (Then make a contract with me, and together we shall defeat all who stand in our way!) _ Junpei found himself reaching up, gripping the edges of a mask that hadn’t been there five seconds ago, but who cared, because he could finally do something.

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” He declared, ripping off the offending article, “Hermes.”

And then everything was on fire. But this fire wasn’t going to burn Junpei, because they were his flames, and he wouldn’t hurt anything he didn’t want to hurt.

It was time to be the hero.

* * *

  
  


Mitsuru didn’t consider her sensory abilities to be all that impressive. It was hard to, when it was almost impossible to both scan the enemy and fight, and she enjoyed the adrenaline rush of battle too much to give it up, even when the Full Moon Thieves had been a group of four.

But there were certain things she got out of it. Or, at least, that was a possibility. While her icy demeanor was something she could call upon on demand, there was little other explanation for the sensations she felt amongst her fellow Persona users.

When she closed her eyes, it was even easier. A spark of _lightning_ , Akihiko. A foreboding _darkness_ with a will of its own, Ryoji. Shinjiro’s incredible well of _physical_ _power_ , as well as the brightly-glowing coal in the _darkness_ that was Koromaru’s _fire_.

It was a sensation she’d believed to be unique to them. And yet, that morning, she’d felt something else.

“Ryoji,” She found herself asking, while helping him with his homework, “Have you ever heard of a Wild Card?”

“You mean the game thing? Or something else?” The boy replied.

“It’s nothing. Never mind.” It probably wasn’t one of those sensations, anyway. Penthesilea’s non-combat abilities weren’t that powerful, she could be mistaken.

The feeling of  _ Wild Card _ that came from Shiomi… it was probably nothing to concern herself with. At least for the time being.

* * *

  
  


“Why an umpire, though?” Junpei shrugged, leaning back with his bowl of ramen.

“I dunno. Why a sentai character?” Kotone found herself laughing without thinking.

“He’s got you there, Yukari-chan.” Really, inviting him along to eat with them had been a great idea. If only because, now that Yukari owed him her life, they probably weren’t going to kill each other. “Personally, I think it’s because she’s a giant nerd.”

“K-Kotone-chan!”

“Well, I mean, Junpei-kun’s into baseball, I watched a lot of Yakuza movies in middle school… it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“You think it’s what we’re interested in?” Junpei asked. “...Yeah, okay, I can see that. Nice work, Koto-tan!”

“It wasn’t that hard,” She pointed out. “If the Metaverse is formed by cognitions, then our outfits must be what we see as people who can do things, tailored to our interests. Maybe. I should really go see those people at some point…” Infiltrate the Velvet Room, do a follow-up with Theo and his sisters… really, her life was bizarre.

But given how Junpei and Yukari were now smiling and laughing about how Io and Hermes had let them smash their way back out of there instead of just fighting, Kotone thought that maybe she preferred it that way.

A flash of blue, and a tarot card appeared in front of her.  _ Fool Arcana _ , Orpheus whispered to her, in a tone too soft to even be called a voice. Kotone didn’t really know much about tarot, but she did understand one thing.

A new bond had been formed between them, as a group. And that meant she had people she could talk to about this. She could trust them, and they could trust her, because they were the only ones who would believe each other in this crazy town. And that was okay.

They’d just have to figure out everything else along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering, the Shadows and Personas wandering in Tanaka's Palace are all of the Priestess and Devil Arcana. The second because it's his Arcana, the first because it's the April/May dungeon in a P3 AU.
> 
> I left out Kotone, Yukari, and Junpei using their Personas to blast through everything on their way out of the Palace because all you really need to know is that there was a lot of fire and Io makes for a surprisingly good getaway vehicle when there's only three of you. They may have a bit of difficulty sneaking back in in the future, not that they were being particularly subtle to begin with.
> 
> They're probably not going back into the Metaverse until Kotone and Junpei have more than baseball bats and hockey sticks. Likely purchased from Tanaka himself, who in this universe is from Mikage-Cho, and so knows why teenagers might be needing to buy weapons.


	6. Infuse With Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kotone's first few trips to the Velvet Room are... less than successful. Or maybe more successful than they had to be.
> 
> It all depends on who's being asked, honestly.

Kotone had a bad feeling.

This was entirely justified, of course. She’d been told that the Velvet Room had been taken over, she didn’t even know the people she was doing this for, and whenever she looked at the odd door, she could feel her Personas other than Orpheus start to panic. When a place caused the generally-silent aspects of her soul to freak out like that, it probably wasn’t a very nice place to be.

Yet the Velvet Key was still in her pocket, waiting to be used, and she wasn’t going to do Theo or his sisters any good just staring at the door. She’d have to go in.

The door didn’t exactly have a knob, or even a lock. She just had to touch the key in her pocket, and it swung open to reveal a sea of swirling blue.

The instant she stepped inside, however, Kotone found herself shackled, standing in front of a desk and guillotines and two girls to either side of a man with a long nose.

Some days, it just didn’t pay to get out of bed.

“Welcome to my Velvet Room. I see we have a new lost soul seeking rehabilitation.” Well, if everything else hadn’t been a clear sign to regret her decision, this definitely was. “I am Igor, and these are my assistants, Caroline and Justine.”

“State your name, inmate,” The girl with the shock baton, Caroline, said.

“Sh-Shiomi Kotone.” All of her Personas were screaming at her to flee. She’d listen, were it not for the fact that she sort of had a job to do there. And was kind of chained to the ground. If it weren’t for that, she’d be out the door.

“Ah, a relation of Shiomi Sakuya, I presume? He did mention a sister.”

“Y-yeah… that’s me. I was told I could come here for help with my Personas?” She wasn’t supposed to let on how much she knew, but if there was anything she could blame Sakuya for, she’d take it.

“That is correct.” Justine was a fair bit more soft-spoken than her twin, though that wasn’t enough for Kotone to be set at ease. She’d come in expecting something sinister, and this odd Velvet Room had more than delivered. “We shall endeavor to acquire a Compendium at once, and we can start from there, though it will take time. We weren’t expecting another inmate.”

“Oh, that- that’s fine. So, um, if I’m not getting anything today, can I…”

And she immediately found herself kicked out of the room. Literally. Caroline was a lot stronger that her small size would suggest.

Suffice to say, she didn’t plan on going back for at least a few days.

* * *

  
  


Kotone’s second visit to the Velvet Room occurred the very next day, as her and Junpei’s new weapons hadn’t come through the mail yet, she didn’t have work or volleyball, and the library committee had ended their start-of-semester meeting early because her predecessor had somehow misplaced all the paperwork and such and they needed to wait for the student council to replace it. Which she supposed she should have expected, given that she got the job because nobody else wanted it.

She never thought she’d find a day boring enough for her to go to the place that her very soul decried as bad news, but it had been right there in the mall and the alternative was seeing if she could set up Sakuya’s copy of Innocent Sin Online, and he probably wouldn’t be happy if she stole his favorite game.

Which left this. Suffice to say, Kotone was seriously beginning to question her life choices.

“I see you have returned. My assistants have prepared a Compendium for your use.” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the beginning… she’d been questioning her life choices roughly since she didn’t immediately hang up on Theodore.

“Really? So, since you’re the experts here… how do you recommend I start?”

It was Justine who answered, flipping through a large book. “Well, normally we would make you do a list of requests, to see your fusion potential. However, as you are the twin of our most successful inmate-”

“Only other inmate…” Caroline muttered. Justine continued on as if she hadn’t heard her.

“-You can likely be trusted with access to all our fusion facilities, unless you do something incredibly out of line. For your abilities, and the bonds you carry, I would recommend using the traingle spread to create a Unicorn. Your connection with your Priestess will give it vast amounts of power.”

“I see… and how do I do that?”

* * *

  
  


_ (I am always with you.) _ Orpheus’ voice was a comfort, and Kotone sat at the fountain, attempting to wipe tears out of her eyes.

“Pixie and Apsaras aren’t,” She muttered. “They deserved better than that. That thing… it can’t be Igor. Anyone who could be Theo’s master wouldn’t be… like that.” Her other self hummed in agreement.

“Hey, Koto-tan, what are you doing here?”

“Nothing, really,” She replied, not looking directly at Junpei so he wouldn’t see she’d been crying. “Just… trying to figure out what, exactly, my life has become.”

“Yeah, it is kinda screwy, isn’t it?” He agreed. “Hey, you wanna hit up the arcade for a bit? I was gonna hang out with Kenji, but he bailed, so…”

She winced. “Yeah, I’m still not allowed back after my last attempt at DDR…”

“Wait, seriously? Man, that was almost a year ago!”

“I’ll be allowed in again in about two weeks, yes. I swear, I don’t know what went wrong…” Okay, she knew what went wrong. She simply sucked at dancing.

But still, a year-long ban from the whole place just due to that was absurd. She hadn’t even broken anything too important.

“They had to close the place for a week.”

“I was trying to forget that,” She admitted. “I’d just about managed to repress the memory, but then you showed up. On the bright side, this conversation is doing wonders for my ability to cope with the fact that I just saw three of my Personas get beheaded, so keep doing that.” It took a few moments for Junpei to react to that.

“Wait, seriously!?” Of course, when he did, he did not disappoint. “How!? Where!? What happened!?”

“Okay, so I found the Velvet Room. You can’t see it, but it’s over in that alley. And I’m eighty percent certain that the ‘master’ of the room is an imposter, given that he has a pair of one-eyed girls fusing Personas together via guillotine. Fun, right?” Ah, sarcasm. Clearly the best coping method.

“...That’s just fucked up.”

“You’re telling me.” The conversation stopped there as Kotone and Junpei took a moment to appreciate just how weird their lives had become in the space of four days. “...So, Junpei-kun, want to go catch a movie? Preferably some type of comedy that lets us pretend none of this is happening?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not healthy, but sure. Let’s go.” Obnoxious he might have been, but it was nice having him around to lighten the mood.

And by the end of the day, her Magician Social Link had ranked up to six.

* * *

  
  


“So, I found my way to the Velvet Room, and I have a few questions for you.” The little space outside reality was not a place Kotone could have envisioned herself spending her time before, due to reasons mostly involving her being in possession of at least some sanity.

Margaret nodded. “Ask away.”

“Okay, first, are Persona fusions normally conducted with a guillotine?”

“...No. No, they are not. Why do you ask?”

“Because that’s apparently a thing that happens. Did Saku-nii not tell you about this?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No, he was complaining about a chainsaw.” That probably explained the time her brother had come home paler than usual and muttering under his breath. He’d had nightmares for weeks.

This probably didn’t bode well.

“Still, a guillotine seems rather tame compared to that,” Theodore noted. “And the girls, Caroline and Justine?”

“Justine seems okay, Caroline left a giant bruise on my torso. And this was after Dia.” Honestly, those two scared her. And if they were related to the other three in any way… well, her list of people not to mess with just got a new several top spots.

Add on another in Mitsuru, whose own best friends called her ‘The Ice Empress of Gekkoukan’, and Kotone could safely say that the new people in her life were terrifying. This was hardly a new revelation, but she kept thinking on it all the same, lest she forget at an important time.

Still, as disheartening as that realization was, it was still better than listening to Junpei go on about that cute redheaded girl they’d seen back at the station. Honestly, he hadn’t even been able to work up the nerve to go talk to her. Given the incredible firestorm he’d managed to call up the other day, that was pretty pathetic.

Not that she’d tell him that. It’d either get him down or feed his ego, and at this point, she was unsure which was worse.

“...I see. I hope it is healing properly?”

“Yeah, I should be fine so long as I don’t fight anything for a few days. Which I was planning on, anyway, so it’s not a big deal.” All she needed to do was avoid creepy blue doors and things that could probably eviscerate her without even trying.

...Why did that sound so much harder than it had to be?

* * *

  
  


It didn’t take long for Kotone to realize that the people she was living with now were more than they’d seemed to be. The way Shinjiro had greeted her and Yukari the first time they’d left the Metaverse was more than proof of that, though it was hardly the only sign, now that she knew to look.

They were strange in general, really- Ryoji’s unnaturally bright blue eyes, Shinjiro not caring, or even appearing injured, when he accidentally cut himself with the steak knife, the way the air temperature seemed to drop by four or five degrees around Mitsuru. Small things, that were hard to notice, and that Kotone could easily convince herself that she’d imagined.

Other things seemed a bit more normal, but were harder to overlook. Akihiko being somewhat unaware of the phenomenon that was static cling, Koromaru doing such things as fetching a specific book when told, and the way that Shinjiro tended to avoid a room when Ryoji’s friend Ken was in it- and when it was inevitable, he refused to meet the boy’s gaze. Ken seemed somewhat put out by it, but it really wasn’t any of her business.

It had been just over a week since she’d moved in, and yet, these things had become rather apparent, though she dared not voice her observations just yet. If they did have powers, it wasn’t the time to confront them.

If they were friends, they’d understand her choosing to wait. If they were foes, no need to draw attention to herself. It was that simple.

“Are you sure it’ll be all right for Ken-kun to stay the night here?” She asked instead.

Mitsuru’s gaze softened, though she seemed unsure of how to respond. “It... wouldn’t be the first time.” She didn’t elaborate further. Kotone didn’t ask her to.

After dinner, she found that the package of weapons she ordered had been delivered- and that someone had been kind enough to bring it to her room without opening it or disturbing anything.

Today, she decided, was a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can probably see, at this point, why I think the original Persona 3's plot could have been solved with proper communication. Unfortunately, SEES in canon, and the Full Moon Thieves here, are not built to communicate. This could cause problems.
> 
> The state of Kotone's Social Links, for the curious:  
> Fool: Rank 1, automatic  
> Magician: Rank 6  
> Priestess: MAX  
> Empress: Not started yet  
> Emperor: Locked, opens 7/22  
> Hierophant: MAX  
> Lovers: MAX  
> Chariot: MAX  
> Justice: Locked, opens 7/8  
> Hermit: Not started yet  
> Fortune: Not started yet, automatic  
> Hanged Man: Not started yet  
> Death: Not started yet, automatic  
> Temperance: Not started yet  
> Devil: Locked, opens 5/10  
> Tower: Not started yet  
> Star: Not started yet  
> Moon: Locked, opens 7/8, requires Star Rank 5  
> Sun: Locked, requires Hanged Man Rank 3  
> Judgement: Locked, opens 7/22


	7. Entry-Level Position

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you mean we decided to break into the same Palace on the same day!?

“It’s here.” Kotone didn’t say anything more than that- to do so would mean admitting to their whole class that she had weapons stored away in the back of her closet.

“Really?” Yukari asked. “So does that mean we’re going to… you know… that place?” Sure, make it sound like they were doing something shady. Admittedly, they kind of were, but the people around them didn’t need to know that.

“It depends. I want to have as many people available as possible. Hey, Junpei-kun, you free this afternoon?”

“Huh? Yeah, I should be. You think today’s a good day for it?”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be,” She responded. “I mean, we just need to get to the mall, that’s pretty simple. And none of us have any urgent duties, unless there’s something you’re not telling us. And we really should do what we can to get started properly.”

“I guess…” The conversation had to stop there, of course, as that was when class started for the day. Kotone decided to put their after-school plans out of mind for the moment, so that she could concentrate more fully. No need to let her powers define her life, after all.

Besides, someone needed to wake up Kenji whenever he fell asleep, preferably before he was caught. And she might as well be the one to do it… if only so he’d owe her a few favors later.

* * *

  
  


At lunch that day, Fuuka and Rio came over to eat lunch with Kotone and Yukari in their classroom, which was normal. They’d trade positions, sometimes, were it not for the fact that Ekoda-sensei was… not someone anyone wanted to be around for any great period of time.

What was less normal was the other girl following them, who Kotone was sure that she’d never met. Maybe. It was a big school.

“This is Hasegawa Saori, the transfer student we told you about,” Rio told them. “Moriyama-san and her gang of bullies were picking on her, so we thought it’d be a good idea to get her somewhere else.”

Huh. That sounded like how they’d first met Fuuka. Some things never did change, although Kotone silently decided that, once she knew how to change hearts, Moriyama Natsuki was going to be on her personal list of targets.

“That was probably a good call, Rio-chan. It’s nice to meet you, Hasegawa-san. I’m Shiomi Kotone. Here’s to being friends.” It wasn’t an explicit declaration of protection- capable of intimidation or not, some things really would only make it worse- but it was close enough.

By the end of lunch, Saori had been fully integrated into their group, Kotone had a new Social Link of the Hermit Arcana, and she’d managed to present to Fuuka and Rio the idea of a volleyball cannon, though she was unsure if it’d ever be made a reality, no matter how viable it was.

Still, with good food, good conversation, and her plans for the day fully made, she’d say that, at the moment, things couldn’t get any better.

* * *

  
  


Mitsuru was more than prepared for a raid on Tanaka’s Palace. They’d visited it, before, but never got very far in, at first due to the strength of the Shadows, and later because they’d started using it as a healing waystation. Still, she’d have to scout ahead, if only for her own peace of mind.

It was probably a good thing she did. “Pharos, do you know why the Shadows would be more on edge today than usual?” She asked, focusing first on their more immediate surroundings.

“Normally I’d say it’s because of something happening to the Palace ruler. But given how often he appears on television, we’d notice something like that.” The boy frowned, wrapping his scarf more tightly around his neck. “Maybe you’ll find something out if you scan farther ahead.”

Mitsuru didn’t particularly like scanning all that far ahead. The further her range was cast, the less detailed the information, and it became harder to pull back in so that she could fight with the others. But she didn’t want any oddities of the Palace to creep up on them, as it was still possible to be taken by surprise, so she did as her friend said and reached out.

That she did so was probably a good thing, as she encountered something entirely new to her. “There’s other people here,” She stated in surprise. “Three of them.” Which was not supposed to happen.

They knew, in theory, that there were other Persona Users out there, made evident by the various mental phenomena occurring in Iwatodai. There were also rumors of similar happenings in other cities, but if there was, it didn’t seem to be big enough to make the news, so Mitsuru dismissed it as unimportant. Yet, for some reason, none of them had ever thought to prepare for the possibility of encountering those other Persona Users.

“Really?” Akihiko turned to her. “Amazon, are you sure about this?”

“I know what I’m sensing, Brawler,” She snapped back. “The question is, what do we do now? It’s still early enough to choose another target if we have to, but after putting this off for so long, we’d be partially responsible for anything that happens.”

“They might not be hostile,” Pharos pointed out. “And as long as we stay out of sight, it can’t hurt to follow them…. ”

“I suppose it cannot,” Mitsuru agreed. Especially as the three new presences didn’t seem all that powerful. If it did come down to a fight, they’d be able to handle it without a problem.

Hopefully, though, it wouldn’t come to that.

* * *

  
  


Kotone looked up at the long, rusty ladder that reached into an upper floor. Two parts of it were locked together, suspending it high above the ground. Behind her, Junpei had managed to push a desk out into the hall, while Yukari was sitting on top of Io, prepared for her part in this.

Sighing, she placed her naginata on the ground for the time being, trusting her friends to make sure that no wayward Shadows showed up to run off with it. No need to take unnecessary risks, and all that.

Technically, she didn’t have to be the one to do this. But Yukari was much better at wind magic than her, and she was honestly scared of Junpei managing to hurt himself doing something.

Carefully, she climbed on top of the desk, pausing for a moment to catch her balance. She breathed in… out… and moved forward, managing two and a half steps before leaping into the air.

For a single, breathless moment, she was suspended in midair, gravity starting to take hold. But that was when Yukari’s Garu kicked in, propelling Kotone to even greater heights, and her fingers closed around cold metal. It took a few moments for her to scramble to some semblance of stability, but she managed it well enough, before starting to climb higher up.

Reaching the latch, she was quick to undo it, not really thinking through the consequences. As a result, the ladder dropped, hitting the ground with a loud clang that reverberated through the metal, and also knocking her off.

For a few seconds, she fell, before being caught by a gentle gust of wind. “Thanks, Yukari-chan…” She sighed, not truly relaxing until her feet were back on the ground. “That was close.”

So they hadn’t thought the plan through all the way. Junpei was still using his sword like a baseball bat, though at least he was hitting the enemy with the sharp edge. She’d been worried about that.

“The noise came from this way, right?” The three paused, hearing approaching voices. Normally, Kotone would simply scurry into hiding with her friends, but there was something familiar about that voice, like she’d recently spoken to a family member or something, and had an actual conversation.

“They don’t seem to be moving.” Okay, that sounded like Mitsuru. “I believe that it will be safe to approach, but be careful.”

“Do you have to say that every time?” And if the second voice was Mitsuru, then the third was definitely Akihiko.

“I like to think that, if I keep saying it, one day you’ll listen to me.” It sounded like a conversation that had been repeated several times.

_ (That is likely because it has,)  _ Orpheus whispered.  _ (Take caution, my other self. These are powerful Persona Users.) _ Well, that could either go very well, or extremely poorly. There would be no in-between.

The first of the other trio to emerge was a familiar-looking teenage boy, with black hair and eyes in a very particular shade of piercing blue, which she had only seen once before. He wore a white shirt and dark pants, with a scarf around his neck of an oddly-bright yellow. Like Kotone, he wore a butterfly-shaped mask, though his was black and white in color. He seemed unassuming, but put off an air that made it clear it was unwise to cross him.

The second to appear was Mitsuru, wearing an elegant fur coat and looking for all the world like she belonged there, carrying a rapier that Kotone was pretty sure actually belonged to a collector who had his heart stolen the year before. Which answered a few questions, but also brought up even more. She silently reaffirmed her decision not to irritate Mitsuru.

Rounding out the other party was Akihiko. Similar to a knight, he wore shining silver armor, or at least something that gave the impression of it, she couldn’t tell. Nor did she think it mattered. The white cape and mask didn’t seem to be entirely practical, but Junpei was walking proof that practicality meant nothing, so it didn’t seem that strange.

For a moment, six Persona Users stared at each other. “Shiomi?” Mitsuru started, clearly shocked. “How-?”

“Not asking anything about the rest of us?” Yukari asked. Kotone sighed.

“Yukari-chan, you aren’t helping. And I’m the one she’s actually met before. Still, maybe we should have this conversation somewhere we won’t be attacked at random.”

“That does sound like a good idea,” The female Thief agreed. “If we climb the ladder and head to the right, we should be able to find a safe room. We can talk there.”

More ladders. Joy.

* * *

  
  


“When you mentioned a safe room, I didn’t expect Club Escapade,” Kotone commented, relishing the opportunity to sit down after more than an hour of running and fighting.

“This is a place where the distortions affecting the mind of the Palace ruler are weak,” The blue-eyed boy explained. “While he uses the mall as another arm of his corporate empire, his fear for his reputation is enough so that he won’t set foot in the club.”

“As much sense as this makes, didn’t we have something to talk about?” Yukari pointed out. “I don’t even know who you are.”

The boy grinned. “Ah, so the mask is working.”

“Or maybe it’s the fact that we’ve never met.”

He sighed. “You just have to take all the fun out of everything, don’t you? Fine. I am Pharos, a denizen of the Metaverse capable of wielding the Persona ‘Thanatos’. However, I spend more time these days in your reality, living under a different identity, and in another form.”

“Well, that explains the eyes,” Kotone remarked. “They certainly don’t seem human.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Because that particular shade of blue is not found in nature,” Mitsuru told him. “And I am unsure as to if I could reproduce it artificially. Either way, I suppose it is my turn to introduce myself. I am Amazon of the Full Moon Thieves, wielder of Penthesilea. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m sure.” With those last two words, the air temperature dropped. Mitsuru didn’t seem to notice, or care about the fact that everyone in the room besides her and Kotone were shivering- and Kotone was leaning on the elemental affinities of Unicorn at the moment.

“You… realize we already know who you are, right, senpai?” She checked.

“Perhaps, but we are still unsure as to whether use of our names in the Metaverse could possibly compromise our identities. It’s not a risk we’re willing to take.”

Akihiko nodded. “Yeah, and besides, they make us sound cool- or, that was the thought process behind the code names, anyway. I’m Brawler, and my Persona is Polydeuces.”

“Accurate,” Junpei noted. “Hey, Yuka-tan, Koto-tan, we need cool code names!” Same as ever.

“You don’t get to choose them,” Kotone told him. “You’d probably come up with something stupid.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve been compiling a list of reasons since eighth grade,” She replied. “At least Kenji-kun’s not here… as for your name, how about Umpire?”

“It’s simple, just like him,” Yukari noted. “It’s perfect. I can’t think of one for myself, though…”

“Hey, what do you mean by that!?” They ignored Junpei’s protests.

“Well, you look like a Featherman character,” She pointed out. “I’m not quite sure which one it is, though…” She hadn’t watched that show seriously since she was nine. One episode every four months or so was not a good way to build an understanding of the franchise.

“...Pink Argus…” Yukari mumbled, apparently wishing she was anywhere else- or, at least, not having her nerdy side exposed to a group of strangers.

“Right. So, Argus, then. And as for me… we’ll go with Trickster, because it describes both my job, and my being a Wild Card. There, five minutes of our lives that we will never get back.” Okay, she hadn’t been meaning to say the last part out loud, but nobody seemed to react to it, either, so it’d be fine. For a given definition of fine, anyway. Given where they were and what they were doing, the normal definition of fine didn’t seem to apply anymore.

“Wild Card?” Right. There were others there.

Something told her that the rest of the afternoon would be spent mostly on explanations.

On the bright side, her Fool Social Link reached Rank Two.

* * *

  
  


**_‘New team photo!’_ ** Shinjiro paused, looked away from his cooking show, and opened the file.

So, they’d figured out Shiomi had powers, only took them about a week. And there were others- the girl that had wandered through Mementos with her, and a boy he vaguely remembered seeing in the halls once or twice. Possibly. The masks weren’t all that good at hiding their faces, but there were a lot of people to pass in the crowd.

He tried to convince himself he didn’t care. That it didn’t matter that the Full Moon Thieves had apparently doubled in number over the course of three hours.

_ (They’ve replaced us,) _ Castor’s voice, so similar to his own that it was almost impossible to tell them apart most days, rose up inside his head.

“Doesn’t matter…” He muttered. A furry head nuzzled against his hand. “Don’t worry, Koro. It’s fine. I wasn’t talking to you.” He still accepted the affection, though. If only to help push that feeling away.

Not that it worked very well. Just looking at the picture, Shinjiro could tell that it had taken a great deal of effort to get everyone in the frame. And that they’d all had a lot of fun while doing so.

Of all the things to be feeling nostalgic about… not that it mattered. That time was done, and they didn’t need him anymore. If they ever had. They’d managed without him for the past year just fine.

He kept trying to convince himself that he didn’t care about it. He repeated it to himself, over and over again, drowning out Castor’s voice with his own.

And, after a while, he even started to believe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Shinji, when I said to take pieces from the characters of Sae, Sojiro, and Futaba, this wasn't exactly what I meant. Oh, well, it's your mental state.
> 
> Also, hi, Saori! Time to see how fast this Social Link can reasonably develop in the space of just under two months.
> 
> A lot of the decision-making process behind the Thieves' garb is basically wondering what they would think would be a good idea at the time of their Awakenings, which they eventually become disillusioned with but can't change later. Except, for Yukari, 'eventually' means 'in one week', roughly.


	8. Treasure Seekers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tanaka's Palace was made as a sort of tutorial area. In a sense, the Full Moon Thieves are a bit overleveled for this.
> 
> Aside from the one thing that wasn't meant to be there, anyway.

In general, Mitsuru enjoyed the lower end Palaces, even when they just barely qualified to be as such. No Reaper to flee from, no need to worry about one of them taking on a Shadow they couldn’t handle… so long as they avoided attracting the attention of the Palace ruler, there was little reason that they couldn’t secure the path to the Treasure in a day.

Well, little reason besides the new recruits, two of which had the chance of just being there until they got the hang of their powers, while the third would likely be accompanying them on and off for the foreseeable future, given that they lived in the same building.

“So, what kind of things can be Treasures, anyway?” Umpire asked. Mitsuru made a mental note to eventually get the real names of the not-Shiomi newcomers.

“Just about anything, really,” Akihiko said. “We’ve seen statues, photographs…”

“Swords?” Shiomi suggested, glancing at Mitsuru. She unconsciously tightened her grip on the Night Falcon- she’d earned that blade, no matter what anyone else said- but still managed to answer.

“Yes, even swords. Though that is… not exactly typical. Most people have more… understandable grounds for their distortions.”

“I dunno,” Umpire commented. “Give someone a sword, watch them go mad with power… sounds like something out of a movie, but there you go.”

Pharos shook his head. “Actually, that’s… pretty far from what actually happened, as far as we can tell. We can’t exactly go and ask Orimoto-san about it, of course. That would, at this point, most likely end with our identities compromised… assuming we could even talk to him in the first place.”

“I think we got enough of that from his Shadow, anyway,” She stated. “At least, when he wasn’t setting off explosions.” That had not been a particularly good week, even if the rewards, in her opinion, were well worth it.

Argus paused. “I kind of want to hear it, but at the same time… I really don’t.”

“That is likely for the best.”

* * *

  
  


“Do you think it’s safe to drink the coffee here?” Junpei idly commented, poking at the pot in question. Said coffee pot proceded to sprout a face and legs and wander off. Kotone blinked and turned to the more experienced members of the group, while kicking the admittedly-cute little abomination under a desk as it tried to go past her.

She didn’t think it was a good idea to drink the coffee.

“Um… is that supposed to happen?” Sure, after the Incubi and Succubi they’d been dealing with, this was outright tame, but anything would be tame compared to that. Also, those could be gotten rid of by Yukari shooting them in the face.

“I have… never seen that before,” Mitsuru admitted. “But then, we never got much farther than the entrance before, while we’re… almost at the end.”

“It’s strange,” Akihiko stated. “Normally, the guy himself would have shown up by now… unless he’s one of those really self-absorbed ones.”

“Or maybe he just realizes we need an elevator key to get to him, and that we have no clue where one is?” Yukari suggested.

“I suppose I could try tricking one away from a cognition…” Kotone paused to think about it. “...Of course, I’d need to go weaponless, find one that both has a key and wouldn’t mind giving it to a teenager, and convince them despite having no idea how business society works. Never mind, then.”

“If we can’t trick a cognition, why not just mug them?” Junpei asked. “I mean, we are thieves, right?”

“Umpire, that is easily the best idea I’ve heard from you all week.”

* * *

  
  


Junpei’s idea had merit. However, there was one part of the plan that was somewhat overlooked- finding a cognition to mug. More specifically, figuring out the difference between possible victims and the Shadows that merely looked like said potential victims.

Yes, there were masks, but that only worked as an identifier if they could see their next target’s face, and every figure in the Palace kept their heads down, nonexistent features out of sight.

Kotone couldn’t imagine trying to do this without a sensor like Mitsuru. It still wasn’t perfect- she couldn’t simply scan everything and hope for the best, apparently- but they only had a few close calls.

Admittedly, said close calls could be rather exasperating, particularly when they all came from the same source.

“Umpire…” Yukari groaned, seemingly unable to say anything else after the most recent fight. Kotone was sort of glad for that. If she did speak, it’d probably be to order Io to blow Junpei out the window or something. Not a thing you wanted to happen five stories up.

The worst part was, they actually did run into a few cognitions on the way. It was just that they ended up being scared off by the group of teens in questionable outfits.

“Maybe we should just try and find another ladder…” Pharos sighed. It technically hadn’t been that long since they decided to find the elevator key, but climbing ladders like that was tiring and Kotone completely understood why, despite having the Palace’s location for so long, the Thieves hadn’t taken it down yet. Though they handled the physical aspects of the job better than her little group did, that could probably be attributed to years of experience.

At the head of the group, Mitsuru suddenly stopped. “That’s strange.”

“What is it, Amazon?” Akihiko asked.

“The Shadows and cognitions behind this wall…” She tapped on the wall to their left. “Most of them seem to be in a panic about something. And there are no other human presences in the Palace.”

“Well, that you can sense,” Yukari pointed out. Kotone shrugged.

“I mean, the Shadows don’t really panic when they see us… they just go on and become my new Personas.” Recruitment had been going really well today, with her most recent acquisition being called Vetala.

Not that it really mattered. Aside from Unicorn’s Bless spells, all of her Personas had redundant powers anyway.

“Trickster…” Mitsuru sighed. “Does it ever occur to you that the way you interact with Shadows might not be considered normal?”

“From what I can tell, it’s not really normal to be able to encounter Shadows in the first place,” She replied. “So of course my interactions with them would be strange.” And that was only the complete Shadows, anyway… incomplete ones didn’t matter.

“Still…” Junpei paused, before continuing, “If something’s scaring things like Shadows, wouldn’t that be a bad sign?”

“One way to find out,” Akihiko shrugged.

“Brawler,” Mitsuru warned, giving him a look that just screamed ‘not again’. “Do you remember the last time we ran into an ambush, back at the Amusement Park?” Okay, Kotone kind of wanted to hear about that one.

“It wasn’t that bad!”

“I was nearly run over by a roller coaster!” Pharos protested. “If we have to go someplace dangerous, can we at least use an actual door and not something that will make shrapnel?”

“Fine…” Kotone was beginning to seriously regret her life choices.

* * *

  
  


Kotone was pretty sure that this was the first time she’d seen an incomplete Shadow that huge. The Reaper didn’t count. Untameable or not, it was definitely a full being. This was just… a giant pile of goop that oozed out of the ground and swallowed up cognitions and lesser Shadows.

Which was admittedly terrifying. “Do you think, if the Palace comes down, it’ll go away?” Yukari asked, clearly just as uncomfortable as she was.

“It could,” Pharos answered. “Or it could reappear in Mementos and we’d have to deal with it there before it started causing noticeable damage to the minds of others.” Kotone’s best friend just groaned at the unhappy thought.

“It might have already started,” Mitsuru observed, blade drawn. “This Shadow… does not feel like it originates from this Palace. It’s like it was placed here…”

As soon as she spoke up, Akihiko started to grin. “So it’s another one of those, huh?”

“Another what?” Yukari’s fingers were already brushing her mask, ready to call out Io at a moment’s notice. Seeing the frost creeping from the edge of that monstrous creature, Kotone swapped her previously-active Persona with Unicorn, preparing to remove her own mask.

“Sometimes, really powerful Shadows break into the Palace of another,” Pharos explained. “They are… dangerous, both to us and the Palace’s host, so it’s important to defeat them whenever they appear. We do not know what happens if one is inside the Palace when it collapses, and I don’t particularly want to find out.”

Right. Giant monster, likely analogous to a boss in a video game, and none of her half of the group were experienced enough to keep up. Absolutely perfect.

Still, she decided, it was worth it if she could legitimately say she’d ridden a unicorn into battle after this. If they survived. She wasn’t all too sure about that.

The Shadow noticed them. And that was when things started to get messy. Immediately, Kotone ripped off her mask, leaping on to her Persona as soon as it manifested. “Kouha!” She ordered.

Unicorn stomped its hoof, a wave of golden light slamming into the Shadow, which did absolutely nothing. Like trying to throw fire at a Pyro Jack. Well, at least she had other options.

“Hey, Umpire. Cover me,” She ordered, before jumping on top of her Persona. She’d never actually ridden a horse before, but it couldn’t be that difficult, right?

...Okay, so she had no idea what she was doing, but that wasn’t any different from normal and she was starting to question her life choices. If this was becoming her new normal, clearly she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere.

And, okay, in hindsight, maybe charging a powerful eldritch being while swinging a naginata wasn’t her smartest idea. Even if the ice flung her way simply shattered without forcing her to do so much as blink.

She still cut through the next ice block, though, on principle more than anything. Also partly as a warmup before Unicorn arrived at the main mass of goop.

The blade sunk into the sticky mass without causing so much as a hint of damage, and for a moment Kotone wondered why she’d settled for a cheap, mail-ordered weapon in the first place.

...Oh, right. Lack of other options and a general desire not to assault a cognitive office building with nothing but a knife tied to a hockey stick. She might have been the type of person to investigate the Metaverse on the words of a group of blue people she didn’t really know, but she still insisted on doing this the right way.

Mentally, she ordered her Persona to back up, dragging her own weapon out from the blob so that she’d still have it later. It was a good thing to remind herself of later- goopy things were not easy to cut.

Now, the thinner tendrils that reached out towards her from the main mass… those she could hack away at to her heart’s content. Up until said tendrils decided to try and trip Unicorn, at least.

She dismissed her Persona before they could actually fall, though she struggled to regain her footing. She could see Junpei and Yukari lining up for another, powerful attack while Akihiko and Mitsuru handled everyone’s injuries. All she had to do was keep the Shadow from noticing. And maybe try to figure out where Pharos was. It was like he’d just… faded out, or something.

And then his Persona appeared. And sliced the goopy monster in half.

Honestly, Kotone was starting to feel sort of inadequate.

On the bright side, apparently one of the swallowed cognitions had an elevator key. So at least they were making progress.

* * *

  
  


“And there we go,” Mitsuru stated, observing the unformed Treasure. “Now, we just need to send our calling card, and visit to take it some time in the day after it’s sent.”

“And fight the Shadow,” Akihiko added, like there was any other choice. Sure, it was possible for them to give up the Treasure without fighting too much, but it was very rare, and even they tended to react violently to seeing Pharos.

There was probably a bad sign there, but if there was, Mitsuru couldn’t quite see it.

“You probably shouldn’t sound so excited about that…” Argus said. Right. That was the problem. She’d spent so much time around him that it had just about become normal.

“So, we’ll be facing a strong guy, huh?” Umpire asked. Shiomi sighed.

“They’re just as bad as each other… I hadn’t even thought that was possible.” Honestly, Mitsuru wasn’t entirely happy about the revelation, either. One overly reckless teammate was far more than enough- even if she still remembered how to operate with two.

Umpire and Akihiko, for their part, seemed to be trying to figure out whether or not they should have been offended. However, Pharos spoke up before they could respond.

“Now that we’ve found the Treasure, we should probably leave before Tanaka-san’s Shadow appears. If he notices we’ve been poking around here…” While it would likely come down to a fight either way, nobody wanted to have to fight the same powerful enemy twice.

Still, she was really glad they’d managed this expedition in one day. More time to sleep, less walking due to not having an elevator key.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'll be honest, I forgot where I was going with this one about halfway through. I'll probably remember eventually. Most likely when I'm busy working on something else.
> 
> I swear I had something in mind for this Palace, but it's probably not that important.


End file.
